


I'm Colse By

by dont_need_me



Category: Star Trek
Genre: AIDS, Adventure, Charachter Death, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Deathfic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Kid!Bones, kid!Jim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-05 05:23:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1090103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dont_need_me/pseuds/dont_need_me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off of the 1995 movie: The Cure.<br/>13 year old Leonard McCoy resents the boy next door. He's never even seen him, but he's herd of him enough to know he was sick with AIDS. The last thing he meant to do on his summer vacation was to talk to the damn kid, let alone be his friend. But things don't work out that way, and by the end of the summer, he's glad they didn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm Colse By

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based off of the movie: The Cure. It's set in 1995, and is extremely unbetad and is also my first workd on the site, so please be kind.

For Leonard McCoy, nothing was better or worse than summer vacation. He was the watching the kids sign yearbooks and other kids and shirts, planning sleepover and exchanging numbers. Leo just wanted to be left alone. He sat quietly at his desk and watched the second hand circle around the clock. There was only one minute before it was all over and he could go home. The bell rang, and Leo hopped up and bolted out of the classroom, preparing himself to brave the halls. He was surprised, his tormentors did not catch up to him until he was nearly off school campus.

“ Hey! How’s your boyfriend?”

“What’s up faggot?”

“ What you walking so fast for, you gotta date?” Leo rolled his eyes and walked faster.

“ he ain’t my boyfriend, I never even seen him!” the boys snickered.

“ Yeah, sure.” Leonard pushed passed them, and continued his walk home. Alone, as always. he looked down at his ratty, worn converse. he needed a new pair, but he was oddly attached to the ones he had. They were the last thing his father had given him. 

 

When Leo walked into the house, he was surprised his mother hadn’t left yet. Elenora McCoy was a tall, lanky woman. A real estate agent by day, Wal-Mart worker by night. She hardly ever had any time for her own son.

“I put one of those microwave dinners out for you,” she said, walking out the door. Leo just stood there, book bag still slung over one shoulder.

“ Well, hello Ma,” he said bitterly to the empty house. “Love you too.” he dropped his bag on the floor and went to grab his book. the weather was actually quite nice, not stifling as it had been the past couple of days, so Leo decided to read outside for a bit. He hardly got through a chapter when he heard coughing on the other side of the fence.

“What the hell are you doing?” he called, getting up and walking over to the fence. There was a pause before there was any answer.

“ Building a mud fort.”

“Why?” Len walked along the fence, peering through the cracks. 

“ I don’t know. What are you doing?” Leo crossed his arms and sat down facing the fence. 

“ none of your business.” The boy on the other side simply hummed and didn’t say anything more.

“ My Nana said you're gonna go to hell” Leo pulled some of the grass up out of the ground around where he was sitting, toying with it absentmindedly. 

“ Your Nana must be really smart.” Leo frowned, and moved closer to the fence. 

“ Why?” there was a weird sloshing sound coming from the other side of the fence, and Leo backed away again.

“ Well, even my doctor says he doesn’t know where people go when they die. So if your Nana knows I’m going to hell, she must be a genius.” Leo scoffed, and shook his head.

“Nah, she’s an idiot.” that earned him a laugh from the boy on the other side of the fence. There was the sound of a car pulling up to his neighbor's house.

“Oh, Mom’s here. gotta go. Nice talking to you..” the boy paused, his question evident.

“ Leonard.”

“ oh, well, nice talking to you Leonard. I’m Jim.” there was the sound of footsteps running, and then a door slamming. Bones was left alone again, staring at the fence like a weirdo. he got up, dusted his pants off and went to go heat his dinner alone. He’d sit at the too big table in his too empty house and eat quietly, completely and impossibly alone.

 

Jim ran into the house, trying to be quiet so he could avoid his mother. 

“ Jimmy!” mission failed. Jim walked slowly around the corner, turning his body so his mother wouldn't’ see his muddy shirt and jeans.

“ Good God child, what am I going to do with you?” Jim just smiled sheepishly, and shrugged.

“ Go get changed, I’m making your favorite.” Jim raced up the stairs and changed his clothes. his mother made Macaroni and cheese for dinner, the good kind, with the crunchy stuff on top. They laughed in their cozy little dining room, and told one another about their days. Jim told his mother about his new friend, and she beamed at him. Life was good.

 

The next day, Leo woke up in the house by himself. After a hearty breakfast of stale Fruit Loops he walked outside with his book, but he didn’t really intend to read. he looked through a crack in the fence and saw the back of the boy’s head. rather than saying hello, Leo ran to get a hammer and nail, scaring Jim half to death when he drove the long nail into the fence and used it to hoist himself over the fence. he looked at Jim, Jim looked at him. He was a small hid, with big blue eyes that looked too big for his head. he had floppy blonde hair and a smile that was all teeth. 

“ How old are you?” Leo was the first one to speak, and Jim sat down on the ground rather abruptly. 

“ Eleven” Leonard staggered back.

“ Jesus Christ you're a midget!” Jim just shrugged.

“ I’m not that short. how old are you?” Leo sat down across from Jim on the ground, looking down at the dirt.

“ thirteen.” Jim smiled and stuck his hand out to shake, as they hadn’t met properly face to face since then. Leo shied away from the hand, and Jim let it fall to his lap.

“You can’t get anything just by touching me..” he muttered, and Bones sighed, trying got find a new topic. 

“ Can I help you with your mud fort?” That stupid grin went right back on Jims’ face.

“ Sure.”

 

And so began long days of conversation and mud fort building. One day, when it was particularly hot, they sat together on the porch of Jim’s house, eating popcicles and holstering water pistols.

“ So what do you wanna be?” Jim asked, twirling his pistol around on his finger and squirting Leo square in the chest.

“ what?” He took the pistol from Jim and tossed it across the porch.

“ When you grow up. What do you wanna be?” There was no hesitation in Leo’s answer. 

“ A doctor, just like a my pa.” Jim raised his eyebrows. 

“ What about you?” Jim bit his lip, looking out into the yard. 

“ I don’t know. If they find a cure, II wanna be an architect..” Leo nodded somberly, then looked at Jim.

“ Do you really think they'll find a cure?” Jim, still looking away, nodded.

“ yeah, eventually.” Jim’s watch beeped, and he stood up. “ I have to eat lunch now.” Leo frowned. “ Why don't’ you just eat when you’re hungry?” Jim was already half inside the house before he answered. 

“ Because if I did that I wouldn’t be here.” Leo stopped and thought about that for a second.

“ Well you wanna go to Smitty's?” Jim looked up at him, brows raised.

“ Smitty's?” Leo nodded.

“ Yeah, the diner. You know, food?” Jim looked a bit hesitant. 

“ Well...how far is it?” Leo shrugged.

“ Not too far, ‘specailly if we use the inner tube. Why?” Jim ran a hand through his hair and smiled.

“ Not reason. Just get a bit tired sometimes, that’s all” Leo kicked himself for that. He was always forgetting that Jim was sick. Always. he shook his head and leaned on the door frame.

“ You got any money?” Jim nodded and bolted up the stairs, Leo followed. As it turned out, out Jim did have money. A lot of it.

“ Where’d you get all that!?” Jim just laughed and shoved a wad of bills into his pocket.

“ being sick does have some advantages.” 

 

Leo went and got his inner tube and ore and met Jim down by the stream that ran parallel to the main part of town where Smitty's was located. Jim hopped on, and bones pushed it out and sat down only after he was sure they’d caught the good current. 

“Tally ho, Captain Bones!” jim had shouted. he was wearing a paper hat and looked like a complete doof. 

“ Captain Bones?” Leo asked, a bit disgruntled as he settled the ore in his lap. They were riding the current now, it was a nice lazy pace that wasn’t too fast, but wasn’t too slow either.

“ Well yeah, cause you wanna be a doctor. You know, a sawbones.” Leo cracked up at that one, and nearly fell into the water.

“ you know, my mom says that all the water from this stream goes right to the Mississippi” Bones nodded, sticking the ore in the water to change their direction slightly.

“ Yeah, I wouldn't’ be surprised. I bet if you just sat in the current for a few days you could get there just from here.” They arrived within walking distance to smitty's not long after, and shared a mega serving of fries. 

 

the stream wouldn’t take them both ways, so Bones found an old shopping car outside of the mini mart and put the inner tube in it, watching jim hop in shortly after. They coasted down hills, sounding like morons the whole way down. it was a good time, until someone called out from behind them.

“ Hey fag!” Jim flinched, Bones sighed and turned around to face the boys.

“ I ain’t a fag, neither is he!” one of the boys stepped forward, popping his knuckles.

“ Well how do you explain-” Bones cut him off before he could even finish

“ he got it from a blood transfusion!” the boy’s shit eating grin faltered, and Bones went on.

“ hey! Cupcake! You got a little brother, don’t you?” Cupcake moved his beefy head up and down.

“ well, ‘member when he fell off the jungle gym and they had to take him to the hospital!? What if he caught somethin’ then!?” Cupcake crossed his arms

“ But he didn’t” Bones crossed his own arms, matching his stance.

“ well what if he did? What if he did, and everyone called him homo and fag and tried to beat the shit out of him, and then he got sick and died!?” Jim was quiet, his eyes never leaving the ground. Bone’s words seemed to linger in the air, stunning Cupcake and the other boys into silence.

“ C’mon, man” on of the boys said, breaking the silence and turning around to leave. Cupcake lingered.

“ I’m sorry you’re sick” Jim shrugged.

“ Thanks.”

 

Later when bones had said his goodbyes and went home, he sat with his mother at the dinner table for the first time in weeks. they ate in silence while she read the paper.

“ That boy from next door in in the paper” There was something in her tone that made Leo decide not to tell her who he’d spent the last week with.

“ really?” she nodded, and Bones fought to keep the conversation alive.

“ I heard him coughing yesterday. he was in his backyard.” His mother looked up and him as she lit a cigarette, not paying any attention when Bones choked a bit from the smell of it.

“ Don’t worry, that fence is there to protect you.” Leo looked down at his plate.

“ Well...what if he wants to come over?” Elenora looked up at him, exasperated.

“Make up an excuse, Leonard. you’re good at that.” Bones sighed.

“ Don’t get too close to him neither.” Bone struggled not to scoff.

“ Well how far should I stand from him then?”

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“ seven feet!?” Jim was holding his stomach, rolling around the porch with laughter. 

“ yeah,” bones said, rolling his eyes. “ Guess that rules out sleepovers” Jim straightened up, brushing dust off of his shirt.

“ Well, my mom wanted you to come over for dinner.” Bones smiled.

“ Well, mine’s working late, so it should be okay.” 

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“ So Leonard,” Wionna Kirk said, looking at the boy from across the dinner table.

“ you can call me Leo, Miss.” Bones replied politely, his hands in his lap. They were having chicken and green beans and macaroni and cheese. Bones actually hated Macaroni and cheese, but Jim was so excited for him to try it he pretended that he liked it.

“ So Leo, where are you from?” Bones looked down at his hands and smiled.

“ Georgia, Miss” Jim’s mother grinned.

“Jimmy told me your dad is a doctor,” Leo nodded and looked at his plate. he couldn't’ remember the last time he’d actually had a home cooked meal. even when his mother was home all they ate was the microwaveable shit.

“ Yes Miss, but he lives in Mississippi” Wionna laughed.

“ You can call me, Wionna if you like, Leo.” she poked Jim in the side.

“ You could do with some of those manners, Jimmy.” Jim blushed and rolled his eyes. “ Well, I’m going to go and get dessert. I’ll be right back. As soon as Wionna left the room, Jim burst into silent laughter.

“Why, good evnin’ Miss, you look mighty fine, I got you some flowers, miss” Jim mimicked Bones’ accent spot on and grinned. Bones kicked him under the table just as his mother walked back in the door.

 

When it came time to leave, Bones said his good nights, and promised Jim another ride on the inner tube the next day. Wionna walked him out.

“ G’night, Mi-Wionna. thanks for havin’ me.” Wionna smiled. “ No problem...Bones.” Leo grinned all the way back home. he opened the door and walked into the house, nearly jumping out of his skin when someone spoke from the other room.

“ Where have you been?” Bones started as his mother came into the hallway.

“ I said where’ve you been?” before he could answer, the doorbell rang. Elenora went to answer it. It was Wionna, holding out a book.

“ Oh, hello. I’m Wionna from next door.” Bones wished he could shrink down to the size of a pea and run away. 

“ Bones left his book up in Jimmy’s room, and I thought I’d bring it to him.” Elenora snatched the book and slammed the door before Wionna could finish. 

“What the hell are you trying to do?” she asked, her voice low and menacing. She threw the book at him, catching him in the chest. “ huh/ what are you trying to do? Are you trying to kill us both?” She shoved him into the wall, and he ran up the stairs. 

“ There are going to be some big changes around here, you bet! Big changes!” Bones just slammed the door and covered his ears.

 

Leo tried to call his Pa that night, but only got a voice mail. he sighed. he couldn't’ sleep, so he wiggled out of his window and ran over to Jim’s barefoot and in pyjamas. He climbed up the tree that faced the back of the house and onto the roof. he knocked on Jim’s window until he opened it.

“What?” Jim was still half asleep and rubbing his eyes.

“ My Mama found out we were friends.” Jim was fully awake then, eyes wide. he stepped aside to let Bones through the window. 

“ So what now?” Jim said, playing with the hem of his shirt.

“ what do you mean?” Bones asked, drawing his knees to his chest. 

“ What are we gonna do?” Bones shrugged and sat quietly for a moment. Then he got an idea.

“ we can go to Mississippi!” Jim snorted and waved him off

“ Why on earth would we go to Mississippi?” Bones was grinning from ear to ear now, which in itself was a rare occasion. 

“ My Pa, remember!? We can go see him, and..and he and I will find a cure. Once you’re better you can come over all the time!” Jim actually seemed to be thinking it over. 

“ How are we gonna get there?” Bones was standing now, walking around the room in his excitement. 

“ I have a canoe. We can use that to get down the river, then we can buy bus tickets to get into town!” Jim still seemed hesitant, even though he was smiling. 

“ We could leave by tonight and get there by the end of the week!” Jim sighed, puffing his cheeks out.

“ Bones..” But Bones was already planning everything out in his head. 

“ you really think you can do it?” Jim stood, pulling on some socks. bones nodded so fast Jim thought his head might of fallen off for a moment. 

“ Do you really think I’d drag you to Mississippi if I didn’t?” Jim just grinned and started to pack.

 

By the time Jim had written a letter to Wionna and packed his medicine and sleeping bag, Bones had his canoe out and ready to go. Jim hopped on, grinning.

“ set course to Mississippi!” Jim said, still grinning like an idiot. 

“ You better study, cause you’re gonna be an architect.”

 

Jim fell asleep not long after the suburbs were behind them, and Boned hummed to himself. It was funny. It had only taken one month. One month for Jim to become his best and only friend in the whole world. No one wanted to be his friend. Not when they knew his mother visited their fathers in the night at dingy motels. The sun was a warming orange on the horizon, and it made Jim’s skin look like it had some colour. Bones wondered what Jim might of looked like when he wasn’t sick. 

“ Earth to Boooonnneees” Jim patted him on the face to pull him out if his thoughts.

“ What?”

“ You were off in la la land, Bonesy!” Bones shuttered. 

“ We talked about this, Jim. Bonesy is not something we’re going to say.” Jim only snickered, and looked around the water. Bones pulled out peanut butter and bread from his bag.

“ Are we almost there?” Jim was already impatient, Bones snorted.

“ No. we gotta camp out one night on the river bank, then go to the bus station.” Jim flopped back on his sleeping bag, making the canoe tilt dangerously.

“ If we fall I’ll shave your head.” Jim’s hands shot up to his hair.

“ you wouldn’t dare.” Bones smiled a bit mischievously

“ Oh, I would.”

 

It only took him an hour and a half to actually get the tent set up. Jim was fishing, watching him struggle.

“ You know,” he’d said at one point, wiping sweat off his face. “ It’s be easier if you would, you know, help out a little bit.” Jim cast his line and shook his head. 

“ you know, it would be a bit easier if you would look at the instructions.” Bones just shook his head as he attempted once more to make the bars fit together. Once that was finally done, Bones built up a fire and they cooked one of the fish Jim had caught. It was a good size, and Jim actually gutted it himself. bones had rinsed it off in the lake and gotten rid of the innards so the bears would leave them be. They sat next to the fire, watching the light of the day fade away and the stars as they began to pop up in the sky. Jims head was lolling to the side, and Bones took a good minute being amused before he helped Jim get into his pajamas and into his sleeping bag.

 

Bones was soundly asleep, tired from staying up all night on the boat and his attempts with the tent. It took a lot to wake him up, even when he wasn’t tired, but an odd gasping shout from just beside him made him stir awake. Jim was sitting up in his bag, breathing hard. Bones reached over to turn on the lantern. 

“ You okay?” Jim nodded, but he was soaked.

“ Good God what the hell?” Jim just sighed. Despite the sweat that was dripping down his face he was shivering. 

“ I just..uh, that just happens sometimes. I get hot.” Bones nodded and started to take off his shirt.

“ Well come on. you have to change clothes.” Jim peeled his soaked shirt from his body and wiped himself off with it, which was actually quite counter productive. Bones got up and out of his own sleeping bag so Jim could have somewhere dry to sleep. Bones could sleep on a blanket, he really didn’t mind. Once everything was settled, Bones looked over at Jim, who was looking up at the top of the tent.

“ Hey Jim?” Jim looked over at him, hands behind his head

“ I heard you shout.” Jim rolled over on his stomach and sighed. 

“ You know astronomers say that the universe could be never ending,” Bones just nodded, like he always did when Jim said weirdly random things.

“ And..well sometime when I wake up..and it’s dark” Leo nodded. He understood. He had an idea, though. He grabbed one of his shoes from the entrance of the tent.

“ here. When you sleep, hold this. If you wake up, and you get scared, you’ll have it and think ‘ I must be safe in my sleeping bag, with Bones close by.’” Jim grabbed the shoe and hugged it to his chest.

“ Thank, Bones.”

“ No problem, Jimmy”

 

The next morning they walked to the bus station. It was hot, and they had to stop several times for rest. 

“Hey Bones, what’s your dad like?” Bones dragged his feet he didn’t really know what to say.

“ Well, he’s real smart...and I look like him” Jim nodded thoughtfully. Apparently that was enough for him, and for that Bones was glad.

 

When they finally got to the bus station, Bones bought their tickets and sat next to Jim in the waiting area. Jim went and got them Cokes and candy bars to have while they were waiting. After a while, jim pointed to a pay phone on the far wall.

“ do you think we should call our moms?” Bones scoffed.

“ My Ma don’t give a rat’s ass about me, and anyway, if we were to call they could track the number.” Jim just shrugged and sat back. The call for Jackson Mississippi was made, and they boarded the bus no problem. Bones had his father’s address from a letter he’d been sent nearly a year ago. the bus ride wasn’t long, and before the boys knew it they were walking down the street, looking for Bones’ dad. It had started to drizzle a little bit, so Bones pulled up his hood. they'd been walking for what felt like hours when Bones stopped abruptly. it was raining harder now, big drops of cold rain fell from the sky as bones looked straight ahead.

“ That’s...not right.” he looked back down at his paper, then up again. “ He’s supposed to be right here, he’s…” bones looked around, getting upset. Jim stepped up next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“ It’s okay, Bones.” Jim coughed into his arm and looked at the door. ‘foreclosed’ was painted in huge black letters over the door. 

“It’s not okay, Jim! I..I dragged you all the way down here! I was supposed to find you a cure!” Jim pulled Bones into a hug, trying to get him to calm down.

“ Come on, Bones. I’m not feeling too good.” At that, Bones looked over at Jim. the tears on his face were indistinguishable from the rain, so Jim couldn’t see how bad it hurt to him to know that he’d failed his best friend. 

 

Jim’s forehead was on fire. He was laying across some seats at the bus station, sleeping soundly. Bones stared at the payphone for a long time before getting up and making a call. He didn’t exactly mean to call the number he did. It just happened. Bones could hear his heart beating in his ears, and sighed in relief when a warm voice answered the phone.

“ Hello?”

“ Miss Wionna?”

 

They got on a bus that would take them home an hour later. Jim was fast asleep in the seat next to Jen, his fever hot head lolling to the side, Len’s shoe clutched tight in his hands. He was stupid for even trying. Why did Bones even think it was a good idea to take Jim all the way to Mississippi when he was much safe at home, with his mother and his medicine. When the announcer called their stop, Bones shook Jim’s shoulder lightly.

“C’mon, Jim. I need my shoe.” Jim woke with a bit of a start and handed him his shoe, rubbing his eyes.

“ Where are we?” Bones pulled his shoe back over his foot, doing up the laces.

“ Home. C’mon, get up. Your Ma’s waiting for you.” Jim stood and scooted past him into the bus isle, hopping down the steps and into his mother’s arms. Bones stayed behind, shouldering his and Jim’s packs and stepping off the bus and to the side.

“ Oh, Jimmy I was so worried.” Wionna held her son and stroked the back of his head.

“ M’ sorry mom.” Bones kicked at a rock. He almost wished his mother was there.

“ Leo, come here, baby.” Wionna stepped forward and grabbed Leo up too, hugging him tight.

“ You two scared me.” Bones sighed and hugged her back. God, she was warm. She smelled like flowers, unlike his own mother who smelled of cigarettes and cheap whisky. 

“I love you boys like nobody's business.” She kissed them both on the head and ushered them both into the car.

 

A few days later, Bones rushed out of the house, tripping over his untied shoelaces. He bolted up the steps to Jim’s house, knocking on the door impatiently. Wionna answered, a slight smirk on her lips.

“ I was wondern’ if I could see Jim.” 

 

The ride to the hospital was awkward at best, nether driver or passenger knowing what to say. Both driver and passenger hating the distance between them and Jim. It was torture, really. Bones had been locked in the house for two whole days until he found the spare key(his mother had changed the locks while he was gone.) Wionna pulled into the parking lot, but waited a moment before getting out of the car.

“ Hey, Len?” Bones paused, his hand on the door handle.

“ Hm?” Wionna looked at him, she seemed to be close to tears. 

“Why did you and Jim go to Mississippi?” Bones sighed and ran a hand through his still bed messy hair.

“ We..we were gonna find my Pa, when we found him he and I woulda found Jim a cure.” Wionna nodded, and smiled. she leaned over and hugged him hard. 

“ That’s a good reason.” Bones smiled.

“ Yeah, s’pose it was.” Wionna pulled away, wiping her eyes. 

“ Hey Len, one more question.” They were getting out of the car now, Bone’s hair was whipped around in a sudden burst of wind.

“ Why does Jimmy call you Bones?” Bones actually laughed at that one. He walked next to Wionna, his hands in his pockets.

“ Well, first of all cause he’s stubborn,” Wionna laughed at that, leading him through the door.

“ And secondly cause I wanna be a doctor. a sawbones, he said.” They walked up to the front desk to sign in.

“ Are you and your son up to date on all vaccinations?” Bones was about to tell the receptionist that he wasn’t Wionna’s son, but he didn’t have a chance. 

“ Yep! Leo got his flu and chickenpox booster last week.” the woman smiles, and took back her clipboard once Wionna had finished. 

“ Well, then, go on up.” Wionna and Bones went to the elevator and pressed the button for level six. From that day on, every time he said Wionna’s name he had to make a conscious effort not to say “mom.”

 

“ So they had to put a tube down my nose and into my stomach. It sucks, because there's tons of ice cream.” Bones laughed and shook his head.

“ did it hurt?” Jim shrugged.

“ Yeah, a little I guess. It’s not as bad as this though. It doesn’t hurt as much as it is annoying.” Jim held up his heavily gauzed hand. heavily gauzed because there were several different tubed fed into his wrist. 

“Damn,” a nurse that had just walked into the room smacked him in the back of the head and Jim cracked up. Bones pulled a toy mouse out of his pocket, giving Jim a small nod, he set it on the floor behind the lady.

“ Oh shit it that a mouse?” Bones jumped up, acting as if the thing had bit him.

“ Holy crap it is!” the nurse turned in a blind panic and saw the little toy on the floor. Maybe if she’d looked closer she’d of realized it wasn’t real. but she didn’t instead she ran out of the room screaming. Jim was red in the face, laughing so hard tears came out of his eyes. 

“ Dude that was great!” Bones was wiping his own tears out of his eyes. He accepted Jim’s high five, and they settled down to watch Quantum Leap.

 

They days in the hospital came and went faster than the ones they spent in Mississippi, the games of nurse and mouse became less and less, as Jim sleep a bit more and spoke less often. The Doctor had said Jim was doing better, that it’s get worse before it go better, but Bones knew it was complete and utter bull. but there was a small part of him that believed it. It was a dreary day, and he was sitting with Jim on the bed watching Star Wars. Jim’s oxygen tube started to make the odd whistling noise it did when it got messed up, so Bones turned around and repositioned it. Jim was asleep, his body slack head lolling to the side. Bones pressed the button that moved the bed from a sitting to laying down position and got up. Wionna was down stairs doing something, he didn’t know what. Something wasn’t right. He felt completely and utterly alone, Jim was right there next to him. Sure he was sleeping, but even when Jim was asleep Bones didn’t feel lonely. 

 

Jim wasn’t sleeping. 

 

The doctors and Wionna came running in when a strangled scream escaped Bones mouth. It was a scream of terror, a scream of agony. The sound of a frightened child. But that was the only sound he made. he didn’t cry, he didn’t yell or push when a few doctors dragged him out. The world was dull to his eyes, mute to his ears, and he didn’t know what to do, or where to go. He was, once again, alone.

 

The car ride home was worse than anything Len had ever done in his life. Wionna was sitting at a green light, fingers wrapped tight around the wheel. the light turned green, but she didn’t move. A car honked behind them, and Leo tapped her on the shoulder.

“ The..the light’s green” Wionna stirred and stepped on the gas, only to pull over seconds later.

Len held her while she cried. He hugged her tight, wanted to make all her pain stop, feeling like it was his own fault.

“ I’m sorry,” he said, his throat tight, his eyes watering. He was trying not to cry, he really was. “ I’m so sorry.” Wionna pulled back and shook her head.

“ No baby, you don’t have anything to be sorry for.” A sob escaped from Leo’s lips and he shook his head.

“ I do..I shoulda tried harder.” Wionna held him at arms length, looking at him sadly.

“ What could you have done?” Leo took a shuddering breath and wiped his eyes.

“ i should found the cure. I told him I would...I-”

“ hush now, hush. Bones, Jim was so happy to have as his friend. he was such a lonely little boy. No one wanted to e around him and then you showed up and you cured that. You cured his loneliness.” Bones sniffed, nodded, and sat back as Wionna started back on the drive home.

 

When Wionna pulled into the driveway, Leo had hardly time to touch the door handle when he was pulled out of the car. His mother had him by the collar, and was shouting obscenities at him.

“ I told you!” She yelled, smacking him over the head. “ I told you not to go any where near there.” Leo didn’t know what to do, he half wanted to run away, half wanted to run to Wionna.

“ Stop it! You stop it right now!” Wionna pulled Leo front his mother’s grasp, putting him behind her.

“ House, now.” Wionna’s icy blue eyes looked enarly deadly. Elenora just laughed.

“ Like hell I’m going in there.” Wionna stepped forward, dragging Elenora by the collar. “

“ Fine then, we’ll just have our little chat here, then. I only have three things to say to you, Mrs. McCoy, three things and you better listen for all your worth.” Elenora seemed stunned into silence, and Wionna continued.

“ First off. That boy right there? He saw his best friend die today. Second off...He’s going to be at the funeral.” Wionna seemed to be having trouble getting the words out, her hysteria choking the words on the way out.

“ And lastly, if you lay and other /finger/ on that child….I will kill you.” Wionna let go of Eleonora's shirt and turned. He laid a hand on Leo’s’ head and walked into her house.

“get in the car, Leonard.” Leo got up and walked to his mother’s car, his head bowed. He wondered if his mother could ever be like Jim’s.

 

When the funeral service was over, Jim's casket was moved into a private room. Wionna led Bones to the room, kissing him on the head before shutting to door behind her. Leo walked slowly up to the coffin not knowing exactly what to do. Until he did. He sat down, and wiggled off his shoe. He stood back up and heaved a great sigh.

“ Hiya, Jim..I..I just wanted to leave this here, with you. Just in case you get scared, you’ll have this, and know I’m close by.” Bones smiled and laid the shoe next to Jim’s side.

“ Don’t forget me, Jimmy” He walked out of the room, a smile on his face. He felt good, better than he had before. Wionna spotted him, and walked over.

“ do you mind if I walk home now? "she shook her head and waved good bye.

 

Bones sighed, looking up at his ceiling. it was late, and he couldn’t sleep worth a damn. He reached under his pillow, from underneath it he pulled Jim’s shoe. He held it close to his chest and closed his eyes.

“ I hope you don’t mind, Jim...but I figured it worked both ways.” there was a slight pause, as Bones decided to say what was still on his mind or not.

“ And Jim, just to let you know, I actually really hate Macaroni and Cheese”


End file.
